U.S. Jails: Terror Cell Incubators?
From City Journal….
….U.S. counterterrorism officials have known for several years that al-Qaida views the U.S. prison population as a fertile source for recruiting homegrown terrorists—the kind that slip through security measures designed to catch foreign jihadi. Would-be “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla, for instance, was a former Chicago gangbanger who converted to radical Islam in prison and traveled to Afghanistan for jihad training. Many observers believe Islam to be the fastest-growing religion behind bars, particularly among black convicts; Muslim prison gangs are proliferating. On some estimates, as much as 20 percent of the New York state prison population may be Muslim. ….
Oh, goody. Just what we need. After reading the complete article, you’ll wonder….can this stuff be going on in my local slammer?
May 1st, 2006 at 4:51 am
I don’t know about recruitment but I can confirm that conversion is going on. There are different groups such as the Nation of Islam, the 5%’ers and “regular” Islam. The numbers don’t seem to be huge - at least in Virginia - but it is happening.
May 1st, 2006 at 7:01 am
Gee, there’s only one solution… release all the prisoners.
Wait, wait. Before you start laughing at my apparently ill-thought-out suggestion, let me finish.
Release all the prisoners into Saudi Arabia.
They want to fund their conversion? Fine. Let’s make it easy for them. Matter of fact, let’s see if we can work a deal. Ten bucks off each barrel of oil for each felon we drop ship to Saudi. From what Amnesty tells us, certainly the Saudis won’t treat them any worse than the political prisons here in the U.S., right?
May 1st, 2006 at 7:37 am
more proof that instead of slowing the death chambers down, we need to speed them up and give death more often for more crimes